How to type German letters ä ö ü ß

German needs the three umlauts ä, ö, ü and the eszett ß. Capital ẞ exists since 2017 but SS is still accepted.

How to type German letters on Windows

Alt codes

Hold Alt, type the code on the numeric keypad with Num Lock on, then release Alt. The number row above the letters does not work.

Add the German keyboard layout

Go to Settings → Time & Language → Language & region, add German (or open Options under your language and add a keyboard), and choose German. Switch layouts with Win+Space. The German QWERTZ layout swaps Y and Z and puts the umlauts on the right of the home and top rows: Ö is right of L, Ä is right of Ö, Ü is right of P, and ß sits right of 0 on the number row. Shift gives the capitals.

US-International dead keys

If you would rather keep a US layout, add United States-International. Press the accent key, release it, then press the letter:

• Shift+' (") then the letter for the umlaut (gives ä)
• AltGr+Q gives ä directly
• AltGr+P gives ö directly
• AltGr+Y gives ü directly
• AltGr+S gives ß directly

Emoji and symbol panel

Press Win+., open the Symbols tab (Ω) and choose Latin symbols, or search the letter's name. Works in every app and needs no numpad.

If you cannot type an umlaut, the spelling ae, oe, ue and ss is an accepted substitute.

How to type German letters on a Mac

Press and hold

Hold a letter key for a second and a menu of accented forms appears; press the number under the one you want. On the English keyboard this covers ä ö ü ß.

• Hold A for à á â ä æ ã å ā
• Hold O for ô ö ò ó œ ø ō õ
• Hold U for û ü ù ú ū
• Hold S for ß ś š

Option dead keys

Press the Option combination, release it, then press the letter:

• Option+U, A gives ä
• Option+U, O gives ö
• Option+U, U gives ü
• Option+S gives ß

German input source and Character Viewer

For regular German typing add German or ABC Extended under System Settings → Keyboard → Input Sources and switch with Control+Space. For a one-off letter, press Control+⌘+Space to open the Character Viewer, search the letter's name and double-click it.

On a Mac, Option+U then the vowel gives the umlaut; Option+S gives ß. The German layout (QWERTZ) has ä, ö, ü as dedicated keys.

How to type German letters on iPhone, iPad and Android

1. Press and hold the base letter (A, O, U, S).
2. A pop-up shows the accented forms, including ä ö ü ß.
3. Slide your finger onto the one you want and release. Gboard on Android works the same way.

To add the keyboard on iPhone go to Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → German and switch with the globe key. On Android open Gboard → Settings → Languages → Add keyboard → German. For a letter you type often, save a shortcut under Text Replacement (iPhone) or the Personal dictionary (Gboard).

Word, Excel and Google Docs

Microsoft Word

Word has built-in accent shortcuts. Press the combination, release it, then type the letter:

• Ctrl+Shift+:, a gives ä
• Ctrl+Shift+:, o gives ö
• Ctrl+Shift+:, u gives ü
• Ctrl+Shift+&, s gives ß

For any letter, type its Unicode hex code and press Alt+X: 00E4 → ä, 00F6 → ö, 00FC → ü, 00DF → ß, and so on (the table above has every code). Insert → Symbol → More Symbols lists them under Latin-1 Supplement and Latin Extended-A. With AutoCorrect (File → Options → Proofing) you can make Word replace a code of your choosing, such as a~, with ä as you type.

Excel and Google Sheets

Alt codes and paste work in cells. For a formula, use =UNICHAR(228) in Excel or =CHAR(228) in Google Sheets to get ä.

Google Docs

Use Insert → Special characters and search the letter's name, or draw it in the sketch box. Docs accepts Alt codes on Windows and Option dead keys on a Mac, and Tools → Preferences → Substitutions can auto-replace a short code with the letter.

German punctuation and other marks

Beyond the letters, German text uses ẞ (capital eszett), „ (low opening quote), “ (closing quote) and € (euro). Click to copy; the codes work the same way as for letters.

Frequently asked questions